Data-Driven Change Management: What Two SAP S/4HANA Programmes Prove About Measuring Adoption

By Anthea Arnol, Change Consultant, Customer Engagement and Adoption ANZ, SAP

Most organisations running SAP transformations invest in communication, training, and stakeholder engagement. The question that rarely gets answered with evidence: is it actually working? What are success-factors?

Two Australian state government agencies — one in Queensland, one in New South Wales — tackled this question by deploying structured pulse check surveys before and after their OCM interventions. They measured, intervened, and measured again. The results don't just validate the approach. They show precisely what moves the needle on adoption readiness in SAP cloud programmes — and what doesn't.

This post summarises the outcomes, identifies the interventions that drove measurable improvement, and offers practical recommendations for SAP project managers, IT leaders, and OCM practitioners running similar programmes.

Why Measuring Change Readiness Matters

Organisational Change Management has a credibility challenge. In many programmes, OCM activities are planned and executed — newsletters sent, town halls held, training sessions scheduled — but the question "did it work?" gets answered with anecdotes rather than data.

Pulse check surveys change that equation. A pulse check is a structured questionnaire deployed at key project milestones to measure awareness, understanding, confidence, and sentiment across the impacted population. The first round establishes a baseline. The second round, deployed after targeted interventions, tells you whether your change approach is landing — and where it isn't.

This shifts OCM from activity reporting ("we sent 14 newsletters and held 6 roadshows") to outcome reporting ("staff understanding increased by 43 points and negative sentiment dropped from 21% to 3%"). For sponsors and steering committees, that's the difference between faith and evidence.

Two Programmes, Two Contexts

Queensland State Government (Agency 1)

- Project: ECC6 to S/4HANA Public Cloud

- Audience: Finance Directorate (~185 people)

- Survey 1: July 2025 | Survey 2: November 2025

- OCM model: SAP Change Consultants embedded full-time alongside the internal change team

- Survey platform: Microsoft Forms (multiple choice and free text)

New South Wales State Government (Agency 2)

- Project: ECC to S/4HANA Private Cloud

- Audience: Finance, People Group, Procurement (~280 people targeted at S2)

- Survey 1: September 2025 | Survey 2: March 2026

- OCM model: SAP Change Consultants supporting on-demand (1–2 hours per week)

- Survey platform: Microsoft Forms (multiple choice and free text)

Different cloud deployment models, different team structures, different levels of OCM resourcing. Yet the same OCM disciplines produced measurable results in both environments. That replicability is one of the most useful findings in the data.

What the Surveys Measured and What Improved

Both programmes measured comparable dimensions: project awareness, understanding of impact, information access, communication effectiveness, manager support, change readiness, and confidence. Both showed improvements across all measured dimensions between Survey 1 and Survey 2.

Queensland — Key Shifts

The largest gains came from sentiment. People shifted from uncertainty to confidence. The drivers were team-level "What This Means For You" communications and a myth-busting fact sheet that replaced speculation with verified information.

Communication negative responses dropped from 21% at Survey 1 to just 3% at Survey 2. That shift came from a structured fortnightly email cadence and Change Champion reinforcement across the Finance Directorate.

NSW started from a lower baseline and achieved the most dramatic improvements. The single largest gain — 57 points in manager support — came from equipping managers with a one-pager covering key messages, FAQs, and escalation paths. Simple, practical, and high-impact.

Information access moved from 13% to 63% after the team created one centralised SharePoint page with clear headings, a bookmarkable link, and consistent embedding of the URL in every project communication. People can't engage with a project they can't find.

The Interventions That Drove Results

Looking across both programmes, six categories of intervention consistently drove measurable improvements. They are listed here in order of observed impact.

1. Manager Enablement (Highest Impact)

Both agencies saw their strongest improvements in manager-related dimensions. The approach was consistent: provide managers with talking points, a one-pager with FAQs, and structured briefings on team-specific impacts.

NSW's +57 point uplift in manager support is the largest single-dimension gain across either programme. Queensland achieved 88% senior leader support at Survey 2 through visible executive endorsement and consistent leadership messaging.

The insight: managers are the highest-leverage channel in any SAP transformation. They're the people staff trust for "what does this mean for me?" answers. Equip them early and equip them simply.

2. Single Source of Truth

NSW went from 13% to 63% on information access after creating a dedicated project SharePoint page with clear headings (What's Changing / FAQs / Key Dates) and a permanent link embedded in every communication.

Queensland similarly centralised all project resources on SharePoint with visible "last updated" indicators and cross-stream links.

The principle: remove information friction before launching engagement activities. If your audience doesn't know where to find information, every other intervention lands on shaky ground.

3. Structured Communication Cadence

Both agencies established predictable, regular communication rhythms: fortnightly project update emails, monthly change newsletters, and scheduled management briefings.

The key isn't communication volume. It's consistency. Staff need to know when the next update is coming. Predictability reduces speculation, and scheduled updates create a container for emerging questions.

Queensland's negative communication sentiment dropped from 21% to 3% through this cadence alone combined with Change Champion reinforcement.

4. Change Champion Networks

Both programmes activated change champion networks to cascade messages and create trusted team-level touchpoints. Queensland refreshed their Champion forum with structured agendas including "Report Back" segments, key messages to cascade, and Business Readiness updates.

Champions extend communication reach to people who don't read broadcast emails or attend town halls. They're the informal validation layer that confirms "yes, this is real and this is what it means for us."

5. Concrete Benefits Messaging

NSW's confidence in project success grew from 23% to 58% after the team introduced "before/after" process examples showing how the SAP ERP upgrade would improve daily work.

Abstract statements like "improved service delivery" don't convert uncertain people. Concrete examples — "here's what this process looks like today, here's what it looks like after go-live" — give people something tangible to engage with.

6. Feedback Loops

Both agencies implemented "You Asked / We Did" mechanisms demonstrating responsiveness to staff concerns. Queensland standardised this across all project forums. NSW embedded it in regular communications.

Closing the feedback loop reduces reliance on rumour and informal networks. It builds trust in the formal change programme — and trust compounds over time.

Practical Recommendations

Based on these outcomes, here are recommendations for SAP project teams planning their OCM approach:

Start with measurement. Deploy a baseline pulse check early in your programme. Without it, you're guessing where to invest your OCM effort. With it, you have directional evidence that allows you to prioritise interventions where they'll have the most impact.

Equip managers before anything else. A one-pager with talking points, 5–6 FAQs, and guidance on "where to direct questions" is more effective than any all-staff email campaign. M...

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